Radio frequency receiver and wireless communication device

Abstract

The present application provides a radio frequency receiver and a wireless communication device, the radio frequency receiving device comprising: a first receiver comprising a first receiving channel and a second receiving channel. A second receiver comprising a third receiving channel, wherein the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel is less than the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the third receiving channel. An analog-to-digital converter ADC group, comprising a plurality of ADCs including a first ADC and a second ADC. A channel selector is used to allocate ADCs. When the channel selector is in a first state, the first receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC, and the second receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC. When the channel selector is in a second state, the third receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC and the second ADC. In the above scheme, the channel selector selects different ADCs to match the first receiver and the second receiver, thereby reducing the number of ADCs, reducing the volume and area of ​​the radio frequency receiving device, and reducing costs.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of integrated circuits, and in particular to a radio frequency receiver and a wireless communication device. Background Art

[0002] With the development of wireless communications, in order to meet the requirements of user peak rate and system capacity, the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) technology based on multiple antennas is widely used in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system and the New Radio (NR) system. In order to support MIMO communication, the RF transceiver needs to provide multiple receiving channels or multiple transmitting channels for parallel processing of multiple data streams.

[0003] In the LTE system, the system's frequency resources are all located below 6 GHz. Since frequency resources below 6 GHz are very valuable, in some countries and regions, these frequency resources have almost been allocated out. Therefore, the NR system also introduces millimeter wave frequency bands to support greater communication bandwidth requirements. In the NR system, in order to distinguish between the frequency range below 6 GHz and the frequency range of millimeter waves, NR FR1 (Frequency Range 1) and NR FR2 (Frequency Range 2) are defined respectively. Among them, the frequency range of NR FR1 is 450 MHz to 6000 MHz, and the frequency range of NR FR2 is 24250 MHz to 52600 MHz.

[0004] NR FR1 is deployed in the frequency range below 6GHz, which is also the frequency range for LTE system deployment. NRFR2 band provides more abundant frequency resources for NR system. In the NR FR2 frequency range, a single user can be allocated a maximum of 800MHz or even wider continuous frequency resources. In contrast, in the NR FR1 frequency range, the frequency resources available to users are relatively limited. Usually, the continuous frequency resources that a single user can be allocated often do not exceed 200MHz.

[0005] NR FR2 is in the millimeter wave frequency band, and RF transceivers usually use phased antenna arrays that support beamforming technology to improve the antenna gain in a specific direction, thereby obtaining better equivalent radiated power and better equivalent receiving sensitivity in a specific spatial direction. Limited by the spatial propagation characteristics of millimeter frequency band waves, RF transceivers working in NR FR2 generally do not use very high-order multi-antenna technology. Usually only two data streams are transmitted through the vertical and horizontal polarization directions of the polarized antenna. In contrast, RF transceivers working in NR FR1 can use high-order multi-antenna technology to support the transmission of 4, 8 or even more data streams.

[0006] Therefore, for the RF transceivers used in wireless communication systems, the number of channels of RF transceivers working in NR FR1 is relatively large, while the bandwidth of a single channel is relatively narrow, and the number of channels of RF transceivers working in NR FR2 is relatively small, while the bandwidth of a single channel is relatively large. Due to different working frequency bands, the requirements for RF transceivers are also different. Different RF transceivers are usually used in the two different frequency bands of NR FR1 and NR FR2.

[0007] Taking the receiver as an example, the receiver may include a narrowband receiver (NBRX) and a wideband receiver (WBRX). Among them, the narrowband receiver can be used to support NR FR1 RF signal reception. As mentioned above, in the NR FR1 band, the continuous spectrum bandwidth allocated to users is relatively small. Therefore, a receiver circuit with a relatively small working bandwidth can be used. At the same time, since it is usually necessary to support multi-antenna applications or carrier aggregation applications in the NR FR1 band, more receiving channels are required. A wideband receiver can be used to support NR FR2 RF signal reception. As mentioned above, in the NR FR2 band, spectrum resources are more abundant, and relatively large bandwidth continuous spectrum resources can usually be allocated to users. This type of receiver needs to adopt a RF receiver circuit with a larger working bandwidth. At the same time, due to factors such as millimeter wave band channel conditions, the number of receiving channels of a wideband receiver is usually small.

[0008] The solution of using different RF receivers for different working frequency bands is conducive to simplifying the difficulty of product design and quickly realizing basic functions. However, since this solution requires the design and implementation of different RF receivers separately, it often takes up a large device volume or chip area, increasing hardware costs. Summary of the invention

[0009] The embodiment of the present application provides a new radio frequency receiver, which is beneficial to reducing the device volume or chip area and hardware cost by multiplexing analog-to-digital converters for multiple receiving channels. In addition, the embodiment of the present application further provides a radio frequency transceiver and a wireless communication device, which may include one or more of the radio frequency receivers.

[0010] In a first aspect, a radio frequency receiving device is provided, which is applied to a communication system, and the radio frequency receiving device includes a first receiver, a second receiver, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) group, and a channel selector. The first receiver includes a first receiving channel and a second receiving channel, the first receiving channel includes a first down-converter, and the second receiving channel includes a second down-converter. The second receiver includes a third receiving channel, the third receiving channel includes a third down-converter, wherein the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the first receiving channel is less than the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the third receiving channel, and the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the second receiving channel is also less than the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the third receiving channel. The analog-to-digital converter (ADC) group includes a plurality of ADCs including a first ADC and a second ADC. The channel selector is located between the receiver and the ADC group, and is used to select one or more ADCs in the ADC group for the first receiver and the second receiver, respectively, wherein when the channel selector is in a first state, the first receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC, and the second receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC, and when the channel selector is in a second state, the third receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC and the second ADC. In the above scheme, the ADC resources of the first receiver and the second receiver are multiplexed, and different ADCs are selected by the channel selector to match the first receiver and the second receiver, thereby reducing the number of ADCs, thereby reducing the volume of the RF receiving device, the layout area, and the cost.

[0011] In a specific implementation scheme, the ADC group further includes a third ADC. When the channel selector is in the third state, the first receiving channel is coupled to the third ADC, and the third receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC and the second ADC. By introducing the channel selector, the two ADCs respectively coupled to the two receiving channels of the first receiver can also be multiplexed for use with one receiving channel of the second receiver. Compared with reserving different ADC solutions for receiving channels of different receivers, the number of ADCs can be reduced, thereby saving chip area and cost. At the same time, the first receiver and the second receiver can also work simultaneously.

[0012] In a specific implementation scheme, the ADC group further includes a fourth ADC, and when the channel selector is in the fourth state, the first receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC, and the third receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC and the fourth ADC. By introducing the channel selector, the two ADCs respectively coupled to the two receiving channels of the first receiver can also be multiplexed for use with an additional receiving channel of the second receiver. Compared with reserving different ADC solutions for receiving channels of different receivers, the number of ADCs can be reduced, thereby saving chip area and cost. At the same time, the first receiver and the second receiver can also work simultaneously.

[0013] In a specific implementation, the device further includes: an ADC controller coupled to the ADC group, the ADC controller being used to convert at least two ADCs in the ADC group into a combined ADC, wherein the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the combined ADC is greater than the maximum signal bandwidth supported by any one of the at least two ADCs. The ADC controller converts multiple ADCs into a combined ADC to meet the bandwidth requirement of the second receiver.

[0014] In a specific implementation scheme, the ADC controller is used to provide a clock signal for each ADC in the at least two ADCs, wherein the frequencies of the clock signals corresponding to different ADCs in the at least two ADCs are the same, and the phases of the clock signals corresponding to different ADCs in the at least two ADCs are interleaved. Multiple ADCs are equivalent to one ADC through phase interleaving.

[0015] In a specific implementation scheme, the channel selector is a combination of multiple switches. The switch combination is used to match the ADC in the ADC group with the first receiver and the second receiver.

[0016] In a specific implementation scheme, the channel selector is a multiplexer, and the ADC in the ADC group is matched with the first receiver and the second receiver through the multiplexer.

[0017] In a specific implementation, the switch combination includes a plurality of single-pole double-throw switches, and the single-pole double-throw switches are used to match the ADC in the ADC group with the first receiver and the second receiver.

[0018] In a specific embodiment, any ADC in the ADC group is a narrow-band ADC.

[0019] In a specific implementation scheme, when the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are configured to receive a first carrier and a second carrier respectively, the channel selector is configured to a first state, wherein the first carrier and the second carrier both belong to a first frequency range of a 5G communication system; or,

[0020] When the third receiving channel is configured to receive a third carrier, the channel selector is configured to be in a second state, wherein the third carrier belongs to a second frequency range of the 5G communication system. Different communication requirements of broadband and narrowband can be met.

[0021] In a specific implementation manner, the first carrier and the second carrier are two carriers that can enable carrier aggregation, and may also be two carriers of dual connectivity (DC).

[0022] In a specific implementation scheme, the first carrier and the second carrier may both belong to the LTE system or both belong to other wireless communication systems; or, the first carrier belongs to the frequency range of the 5G communication system, and the second carrier belongs to the frequency range of the LTE system.

[0023] In a specific implementation scheme, when the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are configured to receive the first carrier and the second carrier respectively, and the third receiving channel is configured to receive the third carrier, the channel selector is configured to the third state or the fourth state; wherein the first carrier and the second carrier both belong to the first frequency range of the 5G communication system, and the third carrier belongs to the second frequency range of the 5G communication system. Broadband and narrowband reception can be achieved.

[0024] In a second aspect, a radio frequency receiving device is provided, the radio frequency receiving device comprising: a narrowband receiver, including a plurality of narrowband receiving channels including a first receiving channel and a second receiving channel; a wideband receiver, including one or more wideband receiving channels including a third receiving channel, wherein the maximum signal bandwidth supported by each of the wideband receiving channels is greater than the maximum signal bandwidth supported by each of the narrowband receiving channels; an analog-to-digital converter ADC group, including a plurality of ADCs including a first ADC and a second ADC; and an ADC channel selector, for selecting one or more ADCs in the ADC group for the narrowband receiver and the wideband receiver, respectively, wherein when the ADC channel selector is in a first state, the first receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC, the second receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC, and when the ADC channel selector is in a second state, the third receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC and the second ADC. In the above scheme, the ADC resources of the first receiver and the second receiver are reused, and different ADCs are selected by the channel selector to match the first receiver and the second receiver, thereby reducing the number of ADCs, thereby reducing the volume of the radio frequency receiving device, and the layout area, and reducing the cost.

[0025] In a specific implementation scheme, the narrowband receiver includes N1 receiving channels including the first receiving channel to the N1th receiving channel; the wideband receiver includes two receiving channels including the N1+1th receiving channel to the N1+2th receiving channel; the multiple ADCs in the analog-to-digital converter ADC group are divided into the first group ADC to the second group ADC, and each group of ADCs includes at least two ADCs; when the ADC channel selector is in the first state, the first receiving channel to the N1th receiving channel are coupled with the multiple ADCs in a one-to-one correspondence; when the ADC channel selector is in the second state, the N1+1th receiving channel is coupled with the ADC in the first group ADC, and the N1+2th receiving channel is coupled with the ADC in the second group ADC; wherein N1 is a natural number, and N1≥3. By introducing the channel selector, the ADCs respectively coupled with the receiving channels of the first receiver can also be reused for an additional receiving channel of the second receiver, which can reduce the number of ADCs compared to reserving different ADC schemes for the receiving channels of different receivers, thereby saving chip area and cost. At the same time, the first receiver and the second receiver can also work simultaneously.

[0026] In a specific implementation scheme, when the ADC channel selector is in the third state, the first receiving channel to the Mth receiving channel correspond one-to-one with the ADCs in the first group of ADCs; the N1+2th receiving channel is coupled with the second group of ADCs; wherein M<N1+2, and M is a natural number greater than 2.

[0027] In a specific implementation scheme, when the ADC channel selector is in the fourth state, the M+1th receiving channel to the N1th receiving channel correspond one-to-one to the ADCs in the second group of ADCs; the N1+1th receiving channel is coupled to the first group of ADCs; wherein, M<N1+2, and M is a natural number greater than 2.

[0028] In a specific implementation, the device further includes: an ADC controller coupled to the ADC group, the ADC controller being used to convert at least two ADCs in the ADC group into a combined ADC, wherein the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the combined ADC is greater than the maximum signal bandwidth supported by any one of the at least two ADCs. The ADC controller converts multiple ADCs into a combined ADC to meet the bandwidth requirement of the second receiver.

[0029] In a specific implementation scheme, the ADC controller is used to provide a clock signal for each ADC in the at least two ADCs, wherein the frequencies of the clock signals corresponding to different ADCs in the at least two ADCs are the same, and the phases of the clock signals corresponding to different ADCs in the at least two ADCs are interleaved. Multiple ADCs are equivalent to one ADC through phase interleaving.

[0030] In a specific implementation scheme, the channel selector is a combination of multiple switches. The switch combination is used to match the ADC in the ADC group with the first receiver and the second receiver.

[0031] In a specific implementation scheme, the channel selector is a multiplexer, and the ADC in the ADC group is matched with the first receiver and the second receiver through the multiplexer.

[0032] In a specific implementation, the switch combination includes a plurality of single-pole double-throw switches, and the single-pole double-throw switches are used to match the ADC in the ADC group with the first receiver and the second receiver.

[0033] In a specific embodiment, any ADC in the ADC group is a narrow-band ADC.

[0034] In a specific implementation scheme, when the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are configured to receive a first carrier and a second carrier respectively, the channel selector is configured to a first state, wherein the first carrier and the second carrier both belong to a first frequency range of a 5G communication system; or,

[0035] When the third receiving channel is configured to receive a third carrier, the channel selector is configured to be in a second state, wherein the third carrier belongs to a second frequency range of the 5G communication system. Different communication requirements of broadband and narrowband can be met.

[0036] In a specific implementation manner, the first carrier and the second carrier are two carriers that can enable carrier aggregation, and may also be two carriers of dual connectivity (DC).

[0037] In a specific implementation scheme, the first carrier and the second carrier may both belong to the LTE system or both belong to other wireless communication systems; or, the first carrier belongs to the frequency range of the 5G communication system, and the second carrier belongs to the frequency range of the LTE system.

[0038] In a specific implementation scheme, when the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are configured to receive the first carrier and the second carrier respectively, and the third receiving channel is configured to receive the third carrier, the channel selector is configured to the third state or the fourth state; wherein the first carrier and the second carrier both belong to the first frequency range of the 5G communication system, and the third carrier belongs to the second frequency range of the 5G communication system. Broadband and narrowband reception can be achieved.

[0039] In a third aspect, a millimeter wave antenna module is provided, which is a radio frequency receiving device as described in any one of the above items, and an antenna; wherein each receiving channel of the first receiver and the second receiver is correspondingly connected to an antenna. In the above scheme, the ADC resources of the first receiver and the second receiver are reused, and different ADCs are selected by the channel selector to match the first receiver and the second receiver, thereby reducing the number of ADCs, thereby reducing the volume of the radio frequency receiving device, and the layout area, thereby reducing costs.

[0040] In a fourth aspect, a chip module is provided, the chip module comprising the RF receiving device described in any one of the above items, and a baseband processing device; wherein each receiving channel of the first receiver and the second receiver is respectively connected to the baseband processing device. In the above scheme, the ADC resources of the first receiver and the second receiver are reused, and different ADCs are selected by the channel selector to match the first receiver and the second receiver, thereby reducing the number of ADCs, thereby reducing the volume of the RF receiving device, and the layout area, thereby reducing the cost.

[0041] In a fifth aspect, a wireless communication device is provided, comprising a housing, and a radio frequency receiving device as described in any one of the above items arranged in the housing. In the above technical solution, the ADC resources of the first receiver and the second receiver are reused, and different ADCs are selected by a channel selector to match the first receiver and the second receiver, thereby reducing the number of ADCs, thereby reducing the volume of the radio frequency receiving device, and the layout area, thereby reducing costs.

[0042] It should be understood that in the solution provided by the present application, the wireless communication device can be a wireless communication device, or a part of a wireless communication device, such as a radio frequency device, a radio frequency chip, a chip combination, or an integrated circuit product such as a module including a chip. The wireless communication device can be a computer device that supports wireless communication functions.

[0043] Specifically, a wireless communication device can be a terminal such as a smartphone, or a wireless access network device such as a base station. Functionally, chips used for wireless communication can be divided into baseband chips and radio frequency chips. Baseband chips are also called modems or baseband processing chips. Radio frequency chips are also called transceiver chips, radio frequency transceivers or radio frequency processing chips. Therefore, the wireless communication device can be a single chip or a combination of multiple chips, such as a system chip, a chip platform or a chip set.

[0044] System-on-chip is also called system on a chip (SoC), or SoC chip for short. It can be understood as packaging multiple chips together to form a larger chip. For example, the baseband chip can be further packaged in the SoC chip. The chip platform or chip set can be understood as multiple chips that need to be used together. These multiple chips are often packaged independently, but the chips need to cooperate with each other when working to complete the wireless communication function. For example, the baseband chip (or SoC chip with integrated baseband chip) and the radio frequency chip are usually packaged independently, but need to be used together. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0045] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of the structure of a wireless communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a wireless communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of a radio frequency receiving device in the prior art;

[0048] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of deployment of downlink inter-band carrier aggregation;

[0049] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of a radio frequency receiving device supporting carrier aggregation applications;

[0050] Figure 6 Adopting zero-IF architecture for NBRX and WBRX circuits;

[0051] Figure 7 A structural block diagram of a radio frequency receiving device is provided for an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] Figure 8 A structural block diagram of another radio frequency receiving device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] Fig. 9 A structural block diagram of another radio frequency receiving device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] Fig.10 A structural block diagram of the support of the NR FR1 application by the radio frequency receiving device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] Fig.11 A structural block diagram of the support of the NR FR2 application by the radio frequency receiving device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] Fig.12 This is the structural block diagram of TI-ADC;

[0057] Fig.13a and Fig.13b This is a schematic diagram of the output corresponding to each sampling of TI-ADC;

[0058] Fig.14 It is a radio frequency receiving device applied to NR FR1 and FR2 coexistence communication scenarios. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] The technical solution provided by the present application is further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and examples. It should be understood that the system structure and business scenarios provided in the embodiments of the present application are mainly to explain some possible implementation methods of the technical solution of the present application, and should not be interpreted as a unique limitation on the technical solution of the present application. A person of ordinary skill in the art can know that with the evolution of the system and the emergence of newer business scenarios, the technical solution provided by the present application can still be applicable to the same or similar technical problems.

[0060] Figure 1 The present invention provides a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system. The wireless communication system includes at least one base station (BS) and at least one terminal. Figure 1As shown, the wireless communication system shows a base station, denoted as BS, and two terminals, denoted as T1 and T2 respectively.

[0061] Base stations usually belong to operators or infrastructure providers, and are operated or maintained by these manufacturers. Base stations can provide communication coverage for a specific geographical area through integrated or external antennas. One or more terminals within the communication coverage of the base station can access the base station. The base station can also be called a wireless access point (AP) or a transmission reception point (TRP). Specifically, the base station can be a generation Node B (gNB) in a 5G new radio (NR) system, an evolutionary Node B (eNB) in a 4G long term evolution (LTE) system, and the like.

[0062] The terminal is more closely related to the user, and is also called user equipment (UE), subscriber unit (SU), and customer-premises equipment (CPE). Compared with base stations that are usually placed in fixed locations, terminals often move with users and are sometimes called mobile stations (MS). In addition, some network devices, such as relay nodes (RN), are sometimes considered terminals because they have UE identities or belong to users. Specifically, a terminal can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a wearable device (such as a watch, a bracelet, a helmet, and glasses), and other devices with wireless access capabilities, such as cars, mobile wireless routers, and various Internet of Things (IOT) devices, including various smart home devices (such as electricity meters and home appliances) and smart city devices (such as surveillance cameras and street lights).

[0063] It should be understood that the wireless communication system may also include other numbers of terminals and base stations. In addition, the wireless communication system may also include other network devices, such as core network devices. The wireless communication system may comply with the wireless communication standards of the third generation partnership project (3GPP), or may comply with other wireless communication standards, such as the wireless communication standards of the 802 series (such as 802.11, 802.15, or 802.20) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

[0064] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal and the base station should be aware of the predefined configuration of the wireless communication system, including the radio access technology (RAT) supported by the system and the wireless resource configuration specified by the system, such as the basic configuration of the radio frequency band and carrier. These system predefined configurations can be used as part of the standard protocol of the wireless communication system, or determined through the interaction between the terminal and the base station. The content of the relevant standard protocol may be pre-stored in the memory of the terminal and the base station, or embodied as the hardware circuit or software code of the terminal and the base station.

[0065] For example, the base station and the terminal are each equipped with one or more antennas, and use radio electromagnetic waves as the transmission medium to communicate with each other. When the wireless resources specified by the system include millimeter wave frequency bands, the base station and the terminal can be equipped with antenna arrays, which include multiple antennas and can support beamforming technology, thereby reducing signal transmission loss, improving signal-to-noise ratio, and improving wireless communication performance.

[0066] Figure 2 The structure diagram of a wireless communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. The wireless communication device may be a terminal or a base station in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 2 As shown, the wireless communication device may include an application subsystem, a memory, a massive storage, a baseband subsystem, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), a radio frequency front end (RFFE) device, and an antenna (ANT). These devices may be coupled to each other through various interconnection buses or other electrical connection methods.

[0067] Figure 2In the figure, ANT_1 represents the first antenna, ANT_N represents the Nth antenna, and N is a positive integer greater than 1. Tx represents the transmission path, Rx represents the reception path, and different numbers represent different paths. FBRx represents the feedback reception path, PRx represents the main reception path, and DRx represents the diversity reception path. HB represents high frequency, and LB represents low frequency, and the two refer to the relative high and low frequencies. BB represents baseband. It should be understood that Figure 2 The marks and components are for illustration purposes only, and the embodiments of the present application also include other implementation methods.

[0068] Among them, the application subsystem can be used as the main control system or main computing system of the wireless communication device to run the main operating system and application programs, manage the software and hardware resources of the entire wireless communication device, and provide a user interface for users. The application subsystem may include one or more processing cores, and can execute the application software of the wireless communication device, as well as driver software related to other subsystems (such as the baseband subsystem). The baseband subsystem may also include one or more processing cores, as well as hardware accelerators (HACs) and caches, and can execute some program software of the baseband subsystem to complete the signal processing function of the baseband.

[0069] Figure 2 In the embodiment, RFFE devices, RFIC 1 (and optional RFIC 2) can together constitute the RF subsystem. The RF subsystem can be further divided into an RF receive path and an RF transmit path. The RF receive path can receive RF signals through an antenna, process the RF signals (such as amplification, filtering and down-conversion) to obtain baseband signals, and pass them to the baseband subsystem. The RF transmit path can receive baseband signals from the baseband subsystem, perform RF processing (such as up-conversion, amplification and filtering) on ​​the baseband signals to obtain RF signals, and finally radiate the RF signals into space through an antenna. Specifically, the RF subsystem may include electronic devices such as an antenna switch, an antenna tuner, a low noise amplifier (LNA), a power amplifier (PA), a mixer, a local oscillator (LO), and a filter, which can be integrated into one or more chips as needed. The antenna can sometimes also be considered as part of the RF subsystem.

[0070] The baseband subsystem can extract useful information or data bits from the baseband signal, or convert information or data bits into a baseband signal to be sent. These information or data bits can be data representing user data such as voice, text, video, or control information. For example, the baseband subsystem can implement signal processing operations such as modulation and demodulation, encoding and decoding. Different wireless access technologies, such as 5G NR and 4G LTE, often have different baseband signal processing operations. Therefore, in order to support the integration of multiple mobile communication modes, the baseband subsystem can include multiple processing cores or multiple HACs at the same time.

[0071] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the processing core may represent a processor, which may be a general-purpose processor or a processor designed for a specific field. For example, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU) or a digital signal processor (DSP). The processor may also be a microcontroller (MCU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), an image signal processor (ISP), an audio signal processor (ASP), and a processor specially designed for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. AI processors include, but are not limited to, neural network processing units (NPUs), tensor processing units (TPUs), and processors referred to as AI engines.

[0072] Memories can be divided into volatile memory and non-volatile memory (NVM). Volatile memory refers to memory that loses the data stored inside when the power supply is interrupted. At present, volatile memory is mainly random access memory (RAM), including static RAM (SRAM) and dynamic RAM (DRAM). Non-volatile memory refers to memory that does not lose the data stored inside even if the power supply is interrupted. Common non-volatile memories include read-only memory (ROM), optical disks, magnetic disks, and various memories based on flash memory technology. Generally speaking, volatile memory can be used for memory, and non-volatile memory, such as magnetic disks or flash memory, can be used for large-capacity storage.

[0073] In an embodiment of the present application, the baseband subsystem and the radio frequency subsystem together constitute a communication subsystem, which provides wireless communication functions for wireless communication devices. Typically, the baseband subsystem is responsible for managing the software and hardware resources of the communication subsystem, and can configure the operating parameters of the radio frequency subsystem. One or more processing cores of the baseband subsystem can be integrated into one or more chips, which can be referred to as a baseband processing chip or a baseband chip. Similarly, RFIC can be referred to as a radio frequency processing chip or a radio frequency chip. In addition, with the evolution of technology, the functional division of the radio frequency subsystem and the baseband subsystem in the communication subsystem can also be adjusted. For example, the functions of part of the radio frequency subsystem are integrated into the baseband subsystem, or the functions of part of the baseband subsystem are integrated into the radio frequency subsystem.

[0074] In an embodiment of the present application, the RF subsystem may include an independent antenna, an independent RF front-end device, and an independent RF chip. RF chips are sometimes also referred to as receivers, transmitters, or transceivers. Antennas, RF front-end devices, and RF processing chips can all be manufactured and sold separately. Of course, the RF subsystem may also use different devices or different integration methods based on power consumption and performance requirements. For example, some devices belonging to the RF front end are integrated into the RF chip. In addition, antennas, RF front-end devices, and RF chips can also be integrated in the same module, referred to as an RF antenna module, a millimeter wave antenna module, or an antenna module.

[0075] Figure 3In the embodiment of the present application, the receiver of the radio frequency receiving device is generally used to support MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) technology or digital beamforming technology. Figure 3 In the RF receiving device shown in the figure, n receivers are used, where n is a natural number. The n transceivers are RX1, RX2, ... RXn. Theoretically, N transceivers can support n receiving antennas to work simultaneously. However, in MIMO technology, multiple antennas work on the same carrier frequency. Figure 3 In the RF receiving device shown, the n RX channels use the same phase-locked loop (RXPLL) to provide the local oscillator signal (RX LO) required by each RX channel. Through MIMO technology, the space division multiplexing of wireless resources can be realized. That is, in the same space environment, multiple channels of data are transmitted simultaneously, thereby improving the overall data throughput.

[0076] The characteristics of a phase-locked loop are: using an external input reference signal to control the frequency and phase of the oscillation signal inside the loop. Because the phase-locked loop can realize automatic tracking of the output signal frequency to the input signal frequency, the phase-locked loop is usually used in a closed-loop tracking circuit. During the operation of the phase-locked loop, when the frequency of the output signal is equal to the frequency of the input signal, the output voltage and the input voltage maintain a fixed phase difference, that is, the phase of the output voltage and the input voltage is locked, which is the origin of the name of the phase-locked loop. The phase-locked loop is usually composed of three parts: a phase detector (PD), a loop filter (LF), and a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). The phase detector in the phase-locked loop is also called a phase comparator. Its function is to detect the phase difference between the input signal and the output signal, and convert the detected phase difference signal into a uD(t) voltage signal output. After being filtered by a low-pass filter, the signal forms the control voltage uC(t) of the voltage-controlled oscillator to control the frequency of the oscillator output signal.

[0077] In order to use spectrum resources more efficiently and obtain higher throughput, carrier aggregation (CA) technology is introduced in LTE and NR systems. The above-mentioned carrier aggregation technology can aggregate 2 to 5 LTE component carriers (CC) together to achieve a maximum transmission bandwidth of 100MHz, effectively improving the uplink and downlink transmission rates. Through carrier aggregation technology, users can be allocated larger wireless spectrum resources to obtain improved throughput.

[0078] Based on CA technology, the communication network can allocate one or more carrier components (CC) to users according to their business needs. The spectrum resources controlled by wireless operators are often not continuous, and are even located in different frequency bands. In order to maximize the integration of spectrum resources, the protocol organization defines inter-band carrier aggregation (Inter-Band CA), which is to schedule a part of the carrier components in different frequency bands and combine them to serve one terminal user.

[0079] Figure 4 An example of downlink inter-band carrier aggregation deployment is given. In this example, the system allocates a carrier unit to each of the three frequency bands Band1 (2110MHz-2170MHz), Band3 (1805MHz-1880MHz) and Band7 (2110MHz-2170MHz) for terminal use, namely CC0, CC1 and CC2. Assuming that the bandwidth of these three carrier units is 20MHz, through the above inter-band carrier aggregation deployment, the terminal user can obtain a total of 60MHz spectrum resources.

[0080] In order to support the above-mentioned inter-band carrier aggregation applications, the RF chip needs to be able to simultaneously receive Figure 4 Since the three carrier units are located in different frequency bands, they are limited by the frequency bandwidth characteristics of the RF front-end module and the RF receiver circuit, and usually require multiple RF receivers working in parallel to receive each carrier unit. Figure 4 Taking the carrier aggregation scenario of three frequency bands as an example, three receiver circuits need to work simultaneously to receive three carrier units respectively. For carrier aggregation scenarios with more frequency bands, the number of receiver channels also needs to be increased accordingly.

[0081] Figure 5 The radio frequency receiving device supporting carrier aggregation application is shown. In this receiver, n receiver channels are provided, which can respectively receive carrier units deployed on n different frequency bands. For example, in order to support Figure 4 For inter-band CA applications in the three frequency bands shown in FIG. 1 , the receiver needs to provide at least three receiving channels (RX1 to RX3), that is, n ≥ 3. Figure 3 The RF receiving device supporting multi-antenna applications shown is different. Since in carrier aggregation applications, each carrier unit is deployed at a different carrier frequency point, each receiver channel requires a mutually independent phase-locked loop to provide each required local oscillator signal.

[0082] like Figure 3 and Figure 5As mentioned in the specification, both inter-band carrier aggregation and MIMO applications will place certain demands on the number of receiver and transmitter channels of the RF chip. When these two technologies are combined to boost the performance of the communication system, higher requirements will be placed on the number of receiving and transmitting channels of the RF chip. Taking a typical downlink inter-band carrier aggregation and MIMO combination scenario as an example, assuming that the communication capability required by the system is inter-band 3CC aggregation plus 4×4MIMO, that is, the three carrier units located in different frequency bands are required to support 4×4MIMO. As mentioned earlier, a total of 12 receiver channels are required to support the communication capability of this specification.

[0083] In LTE, the spectrum resources deployed by the system are all in the frequency range below 6 GHz. Since the spectrum resources below 6 GHz are very valuable, in some countries and regions, the frequency band resources have been almost fully allocated. Therefore, in the emerging NR (New Radio, generally refers to 5G communication system) communication system, in order to obtain more spectrum resources and support greater communication bandwidth requirements, the millimeter wave frequency band is introduced. In the NR system, in order to distinguish between frequency bands below 6 GHz and millimeter wave frequency bands, NR FR1 (New Radio Frequency Range-1, 5G communication system frequency range 1) and NR FR2 (New Radio Frequency Range 2, 5G communication system frequency range 2) are defined respectively. In the embodiment of the present application, NR FR1 is the first frequency range and NR FR2 is the second frequency range. Their frequency band ranges are:

[0084] Table 1. NR system frequency band definition

[0085] NR frequency band definition Frequency range FR1 450MHz-6000MHz FR2 24250MHz-52600MHz

[0086] As shown in the table above, NR FR1 is deployed in the frequency band below 6GHz, which is also the frequency band deployed by the LTE system. The NR FR2 band provides more abundant spectrum resources for wireless communication. Within the NR FR2 range, a single user can be allocated a maximum of 800MHz, or even wider continuous spectrum resources. In contrast, within the NR FR1 band, the spectrum resources available to users are relatively limited. Usually, the continuous spectrum resources that a single user can be allocated often do not exceed 200MHz.

[0087] NR FR2 operates in the millimeter wave frequency band and usually uses beamforming technology to improve the antenna gain in a specific direction through a phased antenna array, thereby obtaining better equivalent radiated power and better equivalent receiving sensitivity in a specific spatial direction. Limited by the spatial propagation characteristics of millimeter waves, high-order multi-antenna technology is generally not used on FR2. Usually, only two data streams are transmitted through the vertical and horizontal polarization directions of the polarized antenna.

[0088] In summary, for the radio frequency receiving devices used in wireless communication systems, there is a comparison as shown in the following table:

[0089] Table 2. Comparison of receiver characteristics between FR1 and FR2 bands

[0090]

[0091] As shown in the table above, for wireless communications in different frequency bands, the requirements for receivers are different due to the different capabilities of the channels themselves.

[0092] As mentioned above, the emerging NR communication system introduces two frequency ranges, NR FR1 and NR FR2. In these two frequency ranges, the signal characteristics of the receiver are different, and the communication scenarios are also different. Therefore, the requirements for RF receivers are also different.

[0093] Figure 6 In the RF receiver that needs to support both NR FR1 and NR FR2, the RF receiving device integrates two types of transmitters, namely:

[0094] (1) Narrow-Bandwidth RX (NBRX). This type of receiver is used to support NR FR1 RF signal reception. As mentioned above, in the NR FR1 band, the continuous spectrum bandwidth allocated to users is relatively small. Therefore, a receiver circuit with a relatively small bandwidth can be used. At the same time, since the NR FR1 band usually needs to support multi-antenna applications or carrier aggregation applications, more receiver channels are required. Figure 6 In the receiver example shown, 8 identical NBRX channels (NBRX1 to NBRX8) are integrated to support up to 8×8 MIMO applications in the NR FR1 band. In actual applications, a larger number of NBRX receiver channels may be integrated to support more complex carrier aggregation and multi-antenna combination applications.

[0095] (2) Wideband receiver (WBRX, Wide-Bandwidth RX). This type of receiver is used to support NR FR2 RF signal reception. As mentioned earlier, in the NR FR2 band, spectrum resources are more abundant, and relatively large bandwidth continuous spectrum resources can usually be allocated to users. This type of receiver requires a RF receiver circuit with a larger bandwidth. At the same time, due to factors such as the channel conditions in the millimeter wave band, the number of channels in NR FR2 is usually small. Figure 6 In the receiver example shown, two WBRX channels (WBRX1, WBRX2) are integrated to support the reception of signal streams in both vertical and horizontal polarization directions of the high-frequency antenna array.

[0096] Figure 6 The NBRX and WBRX circuits in the figure adopt a zero intermediate frequency architecture. For the convenience of description, the circuit architecture in this figure is simplified. Figure 6 The receiver and Figure 5 The receiver channels shown in the figure are the same, which are I / Q orthogonal baseband outputs. Since the I and Q circuit structures are the same, Figure 6 In the description, it is simplified into one path. Figure 6 As shown, due to the different signal characteristics of NR FR1 and FR2, the traditional receiver supporting NR FR1 and NR FR2 architectures needs to integrate two different types of receiver circuits at the same time to process the narrow bandwidth signal of NR FR1 and the large bandwidth signal of NR FR2 respectively.

[0097] The main problem with this solution is that it is necessary to integrate both the narrowband receiver circuit supporting NR FR1 and the wideband receiver circuit supporting NR FR2. The two types of circuits are designed separately, which occupies a large chip area. In particular, since the baseband processing power is usually limited, it is often not required to support the reception operation of both NR FR1 and NR FR2 frequency bands at the same time, or in other words, it is not required to perform the reception operation of the maximum bandwidth capability of the two frequency bands at the same time.

[0098] The present invention proposes a reconfigurable radio frequency receiving device, which introduces a time-interleaved analog-to-digital converter (TI-ADC) and reconstructs and combines the TI-ADC according to the scenario, thereby achieving flexible support for different application scenarios and reducing chip area or cost.

[0099] The radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the receiver in the embodiment of the present application also adopts Figure 6 The invention is described in a similar simplified manner, which does not affect the description of the innovative features of the invention.

[0100] refer to Figure 7 An embodiment of the present application provides a radio frequency receiving device. The radio frequency receiving device provided by the embodiment of the present application includes a first receiver 10, a second receiver 40, a channel selector (Channel Routing) 20 and an analog-to-digital converter ADC group 30 (hereinafter referred to as the ADC group).

[0101] The first receiver 10 may include two receiving channels. For the convenience of description, the two receiving channels are named as the first receiving channel NBRX1 and the second receiving channel NBRX2. The first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are two parallel receiving channels, and the difference between the two is only that the signal frequency bands they process are different. Among them, the first receiving channel includes a first down-converter, and the second receiving channel includes a second down-converter. In addition, the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel also include a low noise amplifier (LNA) and an analog baseband (Analog Baseband, ABB) connected to the low noise amplifier, wherein the analog baseband is used to filter the signal and can be equivalent to a filter.

[0102] The first down-converter of the first receiving channel is connected to the corresponding first low noise amplifier, and the first analog baseband is used as the connection end of the first receiving channel to connect to the channel selector 20. The second down-converter of the second receiving channel is connected to the corresponding second low noise amplifier, and the second analog baseband is used as the connection end of the second receiving channel to connect to the channel selector 20.

[0103] The second receiver 40 includes a third receiving channel (WBRX1), the third receiving channel includes a third down converter, the third receiving channel also includes a low noise amplifier and an analog baseband connected to the low noise amplifier, wherein the analog baseband is used to filter the signal and can be equivalent to a filter. When connected, the third down converter is connected to the low noise amplifier, and the analog baseband is used as a connection end of the receiving channel to connect to the channel selector 20.

[0104] The above-mentioned first receiving channel, second receiving channel and third receiving channel satisfy: the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the first receiving channel is less than the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the third receiving channel, and the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the second receiving channel is also less than the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the third receiving channel. It can also be understood that the bandwidth capability of the first receiving channel is less than the bandwidth capability of the third receiving channel. The bandwidth capability of the second receiving channel is less than the bandwidth capability of the third receiving channel. Among them, the bandwidth capability refers to the maximum signal bandwidth that the receiving channel can handle. As an example, the first receiver 10 can be used as a narrowband receiver, and the second receiver 40 can be used as a broadband receiver.

[0105] The analog-to-digital converter ADC group 30 provided in the embodiment of the present application is an ADC resource pool, and the ADC group includes multiple ADCs including a first ADC (NBADC1) and a second ADC (NBADC2). Exemplarily, each ADC is a narrowband ADC. It should be understood that when there are multiple ADCs, the total number of ADCs can be set to be less than the total number of receiving channels. For example, when the total number of receiving channels in the first receiver 10 and the second receiver 40 is M, and the total number of ADCs is N, then M>N can be set; wherein M and N are both natural numbers greater than 2. Exemplarily, Figure 7 When the number of the first receivers 10 and the second receivers 40 shown in FIG. 1 is three (a first receiving channel, a second receiving channel, and a third receiving channel), the number of ADCs is two.

[0106] When the above-mentioned ADC group is used as an ADC resource pool, the first receiver 10 and the second receiver 40 can select any ADC in the ADC group through the channel selector 20 to connect as a complete receiving link. When making a specific selection, the channel selector 20 can be used to select one or more ADCs in the ADC for the first receiver 10 and the second receiver 40 respectively. The channel selector 20 can realize different state selections in different states, which are described below respectively.

[0107] by Figure 7 Taking the RF receiving device shown in the figure as an example, the channel selector 20 has three states, which are:

[0108] 1) First state: the first receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC, the second receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC; the third receiving channel is not coupled to any ADC. At this time, the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel in the first receiver 10 are both in working state, and the third receiving channel of the second receiver 40 is not in working state. As an example, when the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are configured to receive the first carrier and the second carrier respectively, the channel selector is configured to the first state, wherein the first carrier and the second carrier both belong to the first frequency range of the 5G communication system;

[0109] 2) Second state: The third receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC and the second ADC at the same time, and the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are not coupled to any ADC. At this time, the second receiver 40 is in a working state, and the first receiver 10 is not in a working state. As an example, when the third receiving channel is configured to receive a third carrier, the channel selector is configured to the second state, wherein the third carrier belongs to the second frequency range of the 5G communication system.

[0110] 3) The third state: the first receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC, the second receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC; the third receiving channel is not coupled to any ADC. At this time, the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel in the first receiver 10 are both in the working state, and the third receiving channel of the second receiver 40 is not in the working state.

[0111] The third state is an alternative to the first state of the channel selector 20. As can be seen from the above description, through the channel selector 20, the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel can be decoupled from the first ADC and the second ADC, and the two can be coupled in any combination, as shown in the above first state and third state.

[0112] As an optional solution, the first carrier and the second carrier are two carriers that can enable carrier aggregation, and can also be two carriers of dual connectivity (DC), so that when the first ADC and the second ADC are configured for the third receiving channel, carrier aggregation can be achieved. Exemplarily, the first carrier and the second carrier can both belong to the LTE system or both belong to other wireless communication systems; or, the first carrier belongs to the frequency range of the 5G communication system, and the second carrier belongs to the frequency range of the LTE system.

[0113] As an optional solution, the channel selector 20 is a combination of multiple switches. Figure 7 Each ADC shown in corresponds to a single-pole double-throw switch, the moving end of the single-pole double-throw switch is connected to the corresponding ADC, and there are two fixed ends, the two fixed ends are connected to the first receiving channel and the third receiving channel respectively, or the two fixed ends are connected to the second receiving channel and the third receiving channel respectively. When the two single-pole double-throw switches are selected, the two single-pole double-throw switches can realize the state shown in 1), 2) or 2), 3) of the above-mentioned channel selector 20.

[0114] It should be understood that Figure 7 Only one specific switch combination is illustrated, but the channel selector 20 in the embodiment of the present application is not limited to Figure 7 The switch combination shown in the figure may also be other switch combinations, such as a multi-pole multi-throw switch, one end of which is connected to multiple ADCs, and the other end is connected to multiple ABBs, so that the first receiver 10 and the second receiver 40 can select ADCs. When a multi-pole multi-throw switch is used, the multi-pole multi-throw switch can realize the states shown in 1), 2), and 3) of the above-mentioned channel selector 20. In addition to the above-mentioned multi-pole multi-throw switch, the channel selector 20 may also be a multiplexer. The multiplexer may also realize the states shown in 1), 2), and 3) of the above-mentioned channel selector 20.

[0115] It can be seen from the above description that when the radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application is set up, all ADCs are used as a resource pool, and the corresponding ADCs are matched to the first receiver and the second receiver through the channel selector to work. This can reduce the number of ADCs, reduce the area occupied by the entire radio frequency receiving device, and also reduce its application cost.

[0116] refer to Figure 8 , Figure 8 FIG. 2 shows a structural block diagram of another radio frequency receiving device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 7 In the radio frequency receiving device shown, the number of ADCs is increased.

[0117] The ADC group 30 also includes a third ADC, that is, the ADC group 30 includes a first ADC, a second ADC, and a third ADC. The channel selector 30 also has a third working state. When the channel selector 30 is in the third state, the first receiving channel is coupled to the third ADC, and the third receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC and the second ADC. At this time, the channel selector 30 has the following working states:

[0118] 1) The first receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC, the second receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC, and the third receiving channel is not coupled to any ADC. At this time, the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel in the first receiver 10 are both in working state, and the third receiving channel of the second receiver 40 is not in working state.

[0119] 2) The third receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC and the second ADC at the same time, and the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are not coupled to any ADC. At this time, the second receiver 40 is in working state, and the first receiver 10 is not in working state.

[0120] 3) The first receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC, the second receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC; the third receiving channel is not coupled to any ADC. At this time, the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel in the first receiver 10 are both in working state, and the third receiving channel of the second receiver 40 is not in working state. When the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are configured to receive the first carrier and the second carrier respectively, and the third receiving channel is configured to receive the third carrier, the channel selector is configured to the third state, wherein the first carrier and the second carrier both belong to the first frequency range of the 5G communication system, and the third carrier belongs to the second frequency range of the 5G communication system.

[0121] 4) The first receiving channel is coupled to the third ADC, and the third receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC and the second ADC. At this time, the first receiving channel of the first receiver 10 is in working state, and the second receiving channel is not in working state; the second receiver 40 is in working state.

[0122] 5) The first receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC, and the third receiving channel is coupled to the second receiving channel and the third receiving channel. At this time, the first receiving channel of the first receiver 10 is in working state, and the second receiving channel is not in working state; the second receiver 40 is in working state.

[0123] It can be seen from the above description that the third ADC is used as a multiplexed ADC, which can be used by the first receiver 10 and the second receiver 40. When the RF receiving device is in use, the RF receiving device can simultaneously support at least one narrowband reception and at least one broadband reception, such as narrowband reception (third ADC) and broadband reception (first ADC and second ADC) as shown in state 4), or narrowband reception (first ADC) and broadband reception (second ADC and third ADC) as shown in state 5).

[0124] When implementing the above state, the channel selector 30 is a combination of multiple switches. Figure 7 Each ADC shown in corresponds to a single-pole double-throw switch, and the single-pole double-throw switches corresponding to the first ADC, the second ADC and the third ADC are named the first single-pole double-throw switch, the second single-pole double-throw switch and the third single-pole double-throw switch respectively. In addition, the first connection channel is connected by the fourth single-pole double-throw switch. The moving end of the fourth single-pole double-throw switch is connected to the first ABB of the first receiving channel, and the fixed end is respectively connected to a fixed end of the first single-pole double-throw switch and the third single-pole double-throw switch. When the fourth single-pole double-throw switch is turned on with the first single-pole double-throw switch, the first receiving channel can be coupled with the first ADC; when the fourth single-pole double-throw switch is turned on with the third single-pole double-throw switch, the first receiving channel can be coupled with the third ADC. The states shown in 1), 2), 4) and 5) above can be realized by the above-mentioned first single-pole double-throw switch, the second single-pole double-throw switch, the third single-pole double-throw switch and the fourth single-pole double-throw switch.

[0125] It should be understood that Figure 8 Only one specific switch combination is illustrated, but the channel selector 30 in the embodiment of the present application is not limited to Figure 8 The switch combination shown in the figure may also be other switch combinations, such as a multi-pole multi-throw switch, one end of which is connected to multiple ADCs, and the other end of which is connected to multiple ABBs, so that the first receiver 10 and the second receiver 40 can select ADCs. When a multi-pole multi-throw switch is used, the multi-pole multi-throw switch can realize the states shown in 1), 2), and 3) of the above-mentioned channel selector 30. In addition to the above-mentioned multi-pole multi-throw switch, the channel selector 30 may also be a multiplexer. The multiplexer may also realize the states shown in 1), 2), 3), 4), and 5) of the above-mentioned channel selector 30.

[0126] As an extended solution, the ADC group also includes a fourth ADC. When the channel selector is in the fourth state, the first receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC, and the third receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC and the fourth ADC. The fourth state is similar to the third state, and the details can be referred to the above state 3).

[0127] The structures of the first receiver 10 and the second receiver 40 provided in the embodiment of the present application are not limited to Figure 7 and Figure 8 In the structure shown, the first receiver 10 and the second receiver 40 may also use different numbers of receiving channels. Exemplarily, the first receiver 10 includes N1 receiving channels, and the N1 receiving channels are respectively the first receiving channel, the second receiving channel, the third receiving channel... the Nth receiving channel. The second receiver 40 includes N2 receiving channels, which are respectively the N1+1th receiving channel, the N1+2th receiving channel... the N1+N2th receiving channel. Among them, N1 and N2 are both natural numbers, and N1≥2. For the convenience of illustration, the following is an example of N1=8 and N2=2.

[0128] refer to Fig. 9 The radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application introduces an ADC resource pool (ADC Bank) and a channel selector 20 (Channel Routing).

[0129] The ADC resource pool provides ADC resources required for two different application scenarios, NR FR1 and NR FR2, wherein the first receiver 10 corresponds to NR FR1, and the second receiver 40 corresponds to NR FR2.

[0130] The size of the ADC resource is measured by the bandwidth capability of the ADC to process the signal. Fig. 9 Taking the RF receiving device shown as an example, in this example, a total of 8 narrowband ADCs (NB ADCs) are designed in the ADC resource pool, and the 8 narrowband ADCs are NB ADC1 to NB ADC8. Assuming that the processing signal bandwidth capability of each NB ADC is 200MHz, the total processing capability of the ADC resource pool is 8×200MHz=1600MHz. In the RF receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application, as long as the total signal bandwidth capability does not exceed the size of the ADC resource pool, flexible support for different scenarios can be achieved by configuring the combination relationship of the ADCs.

[0131] When the NB ADC supports the second receiver 40, by introducing the TI-ADC technology, it can support different application scenarios by combining them according to different application scenarios. Exemplarily, NB ADC1 to NB ADC4 are combined into a wideband ADC (WBADC, Wide-Bandwidth ADC), namely WB ADC1. WB ADC1 is provided to WB RX1 for use, and converts the wide-bandwidth RF signal received by WB RX1 into a digital signal. NB ADC5 to NB ADC8 in the ADC resource pool are combined into another wideband ADC, namely WB ADC2, which is used to convert the wideband signal received by WB RX2 into a digital signal.

[0132] The first receiver 10 is used to support NR FR1 applications. The first receiver 10 has 8 receiving channels, namely the first receiving channel to the eighth receiving channel. Among them, the first receiving channel to the eighth receiving channel are all NBRX channels, and the 8 NBRX channels (NBRX1, NBRX2, ... NBRX8) receive signals in the NR FR1 frequency band.

[0133] The second receiver 40 is used to support NRFR2, and has two receiving channels, namely, a ninth receiving channel and a tenth receiving channel, wherein the ninth receiving channel and the tenth receiving channel are WBRX channels.

[0134] The channel selector 20 is located between the analog baseband output and the ADC resource pool. By configuring the channel selector 20, the configuration of each ADC in the ADC resource pool can be realized, thereby achieving the purpose of supporting different application scenarios.

[0135] To facilitate understanding of the usage of the radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application, Fig. 9 The radio frequency receiving device shown is taken as an example to describe in detail the radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0136] refer to Fig.10 , Fig.10 The support of the RF receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application for NR FR1 application is shown. In NR FR1 applications, the spectrum resources allocated to a single user by the receiver are often limited. However, due to the characteristics of the NR FR1 wireless channel, multi-antenna technologies such as MIMO can be used to improve the data throughput of a single terminal user through space division multiplexing. Therefore, in the NR FR1 scenario, the first receiver 10 is characterized by: a relatively large number of channels, but a relatively narrow signal bandwidth of each receiver channel.

[0137] by Fig.10 Taking the radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application as an example, Fig.10The application of the radio frequency receiving device of the present application to NR FR1 wireless communication is given. The eight ADCs are respectively configured to the eight NBRX channels through the channel selector 20 . Fig.10 WBRX1 and WBRX2 are marked with dotted lines, which means they are not in working state.

[0138] When in use, the eight NBRX channels (NBRX1, NBRX2, ... NBRX8) receive signals in the NR FR1 band. The ADC resources (eight NB ADCs) in the RF receiving device of the present application are respectively allocated to the eight NBRX channels through the channel selector 20. The output of each NB ADC (ADC1_OUT, ADC2_OUT, ... ADC8_OUT) is the output of each receiver channel. Assuming that the processing signal bandwidth of each NB ADC is 200MHz, then Fig.10 The radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application shown can support 200MHz signal bandwidth 8×8 MIMO application of NR FR1.

[0139] Fig.11 The support of the RF receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application for NR FR2 applications is given. In NR FR2, the RF system operates in the millimeter wave frequency band, which has relatively abundant spectrum resources, so a larger bandwidth can be allocated to a single user. At the same time, due to limitations such as the channel conditions of the millimeter wave frequency band, a large number of receiver channels are usually not used in NR FR2 applications. For common NR FR2 applications, two WBRX channels are used to receive data streams in the vertical and horizontal polarization directions of the millimeter wave antenna array respectively. Therefore, the characteristics of the RF receiving device for NR FR2 applications are: the signal bandwidth of a single receiver channel is large, but the number of applied receiver channels is relatively small.

[0140] by Fig.11 Taking the radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application as an example, the application of the radio frequency receiving device of the present application for NR FR2 wireless communication is given. Fig.11 As shown in the figure, in the NR FR2 application, two WBRX channels are enabled to receive two RF signals. Fig.11NBRX1~NBRX8 are marked with dotted lines, which means they are not in working state. The various NB ADCs in the ADC resource pool in the radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application are combined according to the application requirements of NR FR2. Among them, NB ADC1~NB ADC4 are combined into a wideband ADC (WB ADC, Wide-Bandwidth ADC), namely WB ADC1. WB ADC1 is provided to WB RX1 for use, and converts the large-bandwidth radio frequency signal received by WB RX1 into a digital signal. NB ADC5~NB ADC8 in the ADC resource pool are combined into another wideband ADC, namely WB ADC2, which is used to convert the wideband signal received by WB RX2 into a digital signal.

[0141] In a specific implementation, the multiple parallel digital signals (ADC_OUT1 to ADC_OUT4 and ADC_OUT5 to ADC_OUT8) output by the two WB ADCs will be further processed and combined into a digital signal that can represent the signal received by the wideband receiver.

[0142] In the method of combining multiple narrowband ADCs (NB ADC) into one wideband ADC (WB ADC), the time-interleaved ADC (TI-ADC) technology is used. The radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application also includes: an ADC controller coupled to the ADC group, the ADC controller is used to make at least two ADCs in the ADC group equivalent to a combined ADC, and the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the combined ADC is greater than the maximum signal bandwidth supported by any ADC in the at least two ADCs. That is, the at least two narrowband ADCs in the ADC group are equivalently combined into a wideband ADC through the ADC controller. In the specific combination, the ADC controller is used to provide a clock signal for each ADC in the at least two ADCs, wherein the frequencies of the clock signals corresponding to different ADCs in the at least two ADCs are the same, and the phases of the clock signals corresponding to different ADCs in the at least two ADCs are interleaved.

[0143] refer to Fig.12 , Fig.12 The basic principle of TI-ADC is shown, which is to use multiple narrow-band ADCs to work in parallel, and the clocks used by each narrow-band ADC are interleaved in phase. In this way, each narrow-band ADC still works at a lower clock frequency, but by working in parallel with multiple ADCs and using phase-interleaved clock signals, the whole device can be equivalent to a broadband ADC device.

[0144] by Fig.12 Take the TI-ADC composed of 4 NB ADCs as an example. Fig.12The working principle of TI-ADC is further described. The working clock of TI-ADC is CLK_ADC, and its clock frequency is f CLK_ADC The clock can be divided by multiple clocks (CLKD) to obtain the frequency of 4 narrow-band ADCs. CLK_ADC / 4, the phase difference is The clock signals are CLK_D1 to CLK_DIV4. These four clock signals are sent to four NB ADCs respectively as the sampling clocks of each NB ADC to sample the same analog input signal AIN. Fig.12 As shown in FIG. 1 , although the CLK_ADC frequency is relatively high, the sampling clock frequency actually sent to each NB ADC has been greatly reduced. In other words, each NB ADC only needs to work at a relatively low clock frequency.

[0145] like Fig.13a and Fig.13b As shown in the figure, in the 4-channel NB ADC, the sampling clock of each ADC samples the same analog input signal AIN. Therefore, overall, although the sampling clock f of each ADC CLK_ADC / 4 is relatively low, but the TI-ADC composed of 4 NB ADCs can still be equivalent to an ADC with a frequency of f CLK_ADC Wideband ADC with sampling clock.

[0146] Combination Fig.12 and Fig.13a , Fig.13b It can be seen that in the receiver provided in the embodiment of the present application, multiple narrowband ADCs can be equivalent to one wideband ADC, and therefore, the ADCs of the first receiver and the second receiver can be integrated to form an ADC resource pool.

[0147] In summary, the RF receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application, in the NR FR2 application, combines the various NB ADCs in the ADC resource pool to form a WB ADC that can support a wider bandwidth signal, thereby supporting the operation of a wide bandwidth receiver required by NR FR2. Similar to the second embodiment, assuming that the signal bandwidth processing capability of a single NB ADC is 200MHz, the WB ADC formed by combining four NB ADCs will have a signal bandwidth processing capability of 800MHz. Fig.11 As shown, the radio frequency receiving device of the present invention can support two data stream receiving operations of NR FR2800MHz signal bandwidth by configuring the ADC resource pool.

[0148] The receiver provided in the embodiment of the present application, in addition to the above Fig.10NR FR1 application scenarios in Fig.11 The NR FR2 application scenario described in the specification can also be applied to the coexistence of NR FR1 and NR FR2 in the NR communication system. Since the frequency band of NRFR1 is relatively low and the attenuation of wireless signals is relatively weak, a larger transmission distance and a relatively stable wireless connection can be achieved. In the NR FR2 frequency band, the spectrum resources are more abundant, which can realize the transmission of wireless signals with a larger bandwidth and obtain a higher data throughput. Therefore, in the NR communication system, consider combining the advantages of the two frequency bands of NR FR1 and NR FR2 to build a communication system with better performance and more stable connection.

[0149] refer to Fig.14 , Fig.14 A radio frequency receiving device is provided for a communication scenario where NR FR1 and FR2 coexist. In this application scenario, a total of 4 NBRX channels, NBRX1 to NBRX4, are enabled to receive radio frequency signals of NR FR1, and a total of 4 NBRX channels, NBRX5 to NBRX8, are not enabled (indicated by dotted lines). In the ADC resource pool, NB ADC1 to NB ADC4 are respectively connected to NBRX1 to NBRX 4, and the receiver signals of NBRX1 to NBRX4 are converted into digital signals and output to the post-processor. Assuming that the signal bandwidth processing capability of each NB ADC is 200MHz, in this application scenario, the 4 NBRX channels can support the communication application of 4×4 MIMO with a signal bandwidth of 200MHz in the NR FR1 band.

[0150] At the same time, in this application scenario, WBRX2 is turned on to receive the RF signal of NR FR2, and WBRX1 is not turned on (indicated by a dotted line). In the ADC resource pool, 4 NB ADCs, NB ADC5 to NB ADC8 are combined into one broadband ADC, namely WBADC2. WB ADC2 is connected to the WBRX2 channel to convert the NR FR2 signal received by WBRX2 into a digital signal. As before, assuming that the signal bandwidth capability of one NB ADC is 200MHz, the one WB ADC composed of four NB ADCs can support an 800MHz signal bandwidth. That is, in this application, it can support the reception of one 800MHz signal in the NR FR2 band.

[0151] It can be seen from the above description that the radio frequency receiving device provided in the embodiment of the present application can be used in application scenarios where NR FR1 and FR2 coexist. The total communication capability can support 4×4 MIMO communication with a signal bandwidth of 200MHz in the NR FR1 band and communication with a signal bandwidth of 800MHz in the NR FR2 band.

[0152] Since the total bandwidth processing capacity of the ADC resource pool is limited, the total bandwidth capacity of the signal that the receiver of the present invention can process is determined. The radio frequency receiving device of the present invention can simultaneously support the application scenario where NR FR1 and FR2 coexist, and the communication capacity can be allocated between NR FR1 and FR2, but the total communication bandwidth is determined.

[0153] An embodiment of the present application also provides a millimeter wave antenna module, which includes the radio frequency receiving device described in any one of the above items, and an antenna; wherein each receiving channel of the first receiver and the second receiver is correspondingly connected to an antenna.

[0154] An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip module, which includes the RF receiving device described in any one of the above items, and a baseband processing device; wherein each receiving channel of the first receiver and the second receiver is respectively connected to the baseband processing device.

[0155] The embodiment of the present application also provides a wireless communication device, the wireless communication device comprising a housing, and any one of the above-mentioned radio frequency receiving devices arranged in the housing. Figure 2 The structure shown in the figure, the wireless communication device includes the above-mentioned radio frequency receiving device and an antenna connected to the radio frequency receiving device. By multiplexing the ADC resources of the first receiver and the second receiver, different ADCs are selected by the channel selector to match the first receiver and the second receiver, thereby reducing the number of ADCs, thereby reducing the volume of the radio frequency receiving device, the layout area, and the cost.

[0156] The terms "first", "second", and "third" in the embodiments of the present application and the accompanying drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or precedence. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to represent non-exclusive inclusions, for example, including a series of steps or units. The method, system, product, or device need not be limited to those steps or units listed literally, but may include other steps or units that are not listed literally or inherent to these processes, methods, products, or devices.

[0157] It should be understood that in the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And / or" is used to describe the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, "A and / or B" can mean: only A exists, only B exists, and A and B exist at the same time, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can mean: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0158] It should be understood that in this application, the size of the sequence number of each process does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiment of this application. The term "coupling" mentioned in this application is used to express the intercommunication or interaction between different components, which may include direct connection or indirect connection through other components.

[0159] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the present technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A radio frequency receiving device, characterized in that: include: A first receiver, comprising a first receiving channel and a second receiving channel, wherein the first receiving channel comprises a first down-converter, and the second receiving channel comprises a second down-converter; A second receiver, comprising a third receiving channel, the third receiving channel comprising a third downconverter, wherein a maximum signal bandwidth supported by the first receiving channel is smaller than a maximum signal bandwidth supported by the third receiving channel, and a maximum signal bandwidth supported by the second receiving channel is also smaller than a maximum signal bandwidth supported by the third receiving channel; an analog-to-digital converter ADC group, including a plurality of ADCs including a first ADC and a second ADC; and A channel selector is used to select one or more ADCs in the ADC group for the first receiver and the second receiver respectively, wherein when the channel selector is in a first state, the first receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC, and the second receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC; when the channel selector is in a second state, the third receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC and the second ADC.

2. The radio frequency receiving device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The ADC group further includes a third ADC. When the channel selector is in a third state, the first receiving channel is coupled to the third ADC, and the third receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC and the second ADC.

3. The radio frequency receiving device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The ADC group further includes a fourth ADC. When the channel selector is in a fourth state, the first receiving channel is coupled to the first ADC, and the third receiving channel is coupled to the second ADC and the fourth ADC.

4. The radio frequency receiving device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: Also includes: An ADC controller coupled to the ADC group, the ADC controller is used to make at least two ADCs in the ADC group equivalent to a combined ADC, the maximum signal bandwidth supported by the combined ADC is greater than the maximum signal bandwidth supported by any one of the at least two ADCs.

5. The radio frequency receiving device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The ADC controller is used to provide a clock signal for each ADC in the at least two ADCs, wherein the frequencies of the clock signals corresponding to different ADCs in the at least two ADCs are the same, and the phases of the clock signals corresponding to different ADCs in the at least two ADCs are interlaced.

6. The radio frequency receiving device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The channel selector is a combination of multiple switches.

7. The radio frequency receiving device according to claim 6, characterized in that: The channel selector is a multiplexer.

8. The radio frequency receiving device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: Any ADC in the ADC group is a narrow-band ADC.

9. The radio frequency receiving device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: When the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are configured to receive a first carrier and a second carrier respectively, the channel selector is configured to be in a first state, wherein the first carrier and the second carrier both belong to a first frequency range of a 5G communication system; or, When the third receiving channel is configured to receive a third carrier, the channel selector is configured to a second state, wherein the third carrier belongs to a second frequency range of the 5G communication system.

10. The radio frequency receiving device according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: When the first receiving channel and the second receiving channel are configured to receive a first carrier and a second carrier respectively, and the third receiving channel is configured to receive a third carrier, the channel selector is configured to a third state or a fourth state, wherein the first carrier and the second carrier both belong to a first frequency range of the 5G communication system, and the third carrier belongs to a second frequency range of the 5G communication system.

11. A millimeter wave antenna module, characterized in that: It comprises the radio frequency receiving device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, and an antenna; wherein each receiving channel of the first receiver and the second receiver is correspondingly connected to an antenna.

12. A chip module, characterized in that: It comprises a radio frequency receiving device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, and a baseband processing device; wherein each receiving channel of the first receiver and the second receiver is respectively connected to the baseband processing device.

13. A wireless communication device, characterized in that: The invention comprises a housing, and a radio frequency receiving device according to any one of claims 1 to 10 arranged in the housing.

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